The Caldy Society

NewsletterAutumn 2019

THE CALDY

S O C I E T Y

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up to date news:

www.caldysociety.org

Open Gardens 2020 Dates

Tour of Britain visits Caldy

Autumn Events

Conservation & Planning Updates

CommitteeCaroline Evans (Chairman)

07816 237 532 chair@caldy.org

Donald Lamont (Treasurer & Membership)

625 8122 treasurer@caldy.org

Eve Sorrell (Secretary) 625 0244 sec2@caldy.org

Jacqui Walsby Tickle 625 6953 cttee1@caldy.org

Julie Kirwan 07771 733 334 cttee3@caldy.org

Nick Lean (Planning) 625 1549 planning@caldy.org

David Lawrence (Website) 625 2484 drdslawrence@aol.com

Penny Hall (Minutes) pennypeterhall@talktalk.net

The Planning Sub Committee

Nick Lean 625 1549

Roger White 625 6800

David James 625 6846

Elwyn Edwards

The Tree & Planting Sub Committee

Marg Kalil 625 5961

Judy Wilcox simonsfield@btinternet.com

Richard Williams 625 1445

Jacqui Walsby Tickle 625 6953

Rachel Summers 625 7604

John Casson 07885 716 224

Jean Taylor 625 5653

Subscriptions

subscriptions@caldysociety.org

Caldy Society AGM

Looking to future events, next spring’s AGM will be held at Caldy Golf Club. Look

out for emails for further information. If we don’t have your email address please

get in touch with any of the committee members or if you would prefer a quick

phone call to update you with events again contact us.

THE CALDY

S O C I E T Y

Summer Notes from the Chairman

This last year has been a busy one for the Society, with our usual involvement

in Planning Applications and green belt issues. Although we take expert advice

and support petitions by local residents about Planning issues, we are not always

successful in our efforts to protect the character of the Village. Perhaps the

new Leader of Wirral Borough Council may take a fresh approach.

I recently attended a Planning Committee meeting, on behalf of the petitioners

opposing the development at Roselands. It was an interesting experience,

observing the wide variety of developments across the Wirral with which the

Councillors have to deal.

Turning next to Green Belt issues, we are in active communication with the WGSA

(Wirral Green Spaces Alliance), an umbrella organisation for several different

residents groups and other parties interested in protecting the Green Belt across

Wirral. It has been felt in the past that the Council did not pay sufficient attention

to the concern and suggestions of the many experienced professionals within

this group. As I understand it, quite often no acknowledgement was given to

communications from WGSA, never mind a considered reply. However, I believe

a more positive relationship is developing, as the Council still has not published

its (much delayed) Local Plan.

While the Committee has not seen any changes in Personnel since my last

update, Mr David Lawrence, who has been our liaison with WGSA, has had to step

down from that role and we are urgently seeking someone to take his place.

Once again, we shall be offering several social events in the Autumn (see notes

in this Newsletter) which I hope you will enjoy. Any suggestions for other future

events would be welcomed.

The Society would be interested to know whether members would welcome

emails from time to time about local break-ins. We do not wish to overwhelm

our Members with emails but we do want to keep you all informed. Please let the

Committee know your views on this, or any other subject we can help with.

Have a very pleasant summer in our lovely village.

Caroline Evans

Caldy Open Gardens 2020

Our next Caldy Open Gardens will

be on Sunday 24 May 2020 from

1pm- 5.30pm

We already have about 14 gardens

opening, four of which are brand new.

For the first time, there will also be

a Children’s Fairy Garden with face

painting, and the live owls will be

back. Tea and home-made cakes will

be on offer, plus BBQ food, ice cream

and other goodies to eat and drink.

Yet again, there will be an extensive

plant sales site, plus a select group of

Wirral Artisans will be showcasing and

selling their work.

It’s a date for the diary not to be

missed, with all proceeds going to a

local charity

For more information contact us at

caldyopengardens@gmail.com

Carols on the Green

Is it too soon to mention the C word?

Well, sorry to offend but our Carols

on the Green this Christmas will be

on Sunday 15 December. This is our

free annual event so join us for mulled

wine, hot chocolate, mince pies and

sausage rolls.

Carols will be 6pm on the Green, then

weather permitting, more Carols

around the tree and onto the Church

Hall for refreshments.

Don’t forget your torches!

Blue Plaque Unveiled

A Blue Plaque commemorating the

renowned Wirral born science fiction

author, William Olaf Stapledon, was

unveiled at Simons Bridge, Caldy on

the Wirral Way on Friday 10 May 2019.

Wirral’s Mayor, Cllr Geoffrey Watt,

performed the official unveiling and

some family memories were shared

with the audience by Olaf’s two

grandsons. Olaf had bought part of a

field in Caldy in the 1950’s and built a

house for his family called Simon’s Field and is adjacent to Simons Bridge.

The Stapledon name was suggested to Conservation Areas Wirral (CAW) by

Justin McDonald, local actor and film maker, who had achieved the exclusive rights

last year to create a short film based upon Olaf’s spellbinding story “A Modern

Magician”. The film has been shot entirely on location in Merseyside and it is

hoped to arrange a screening later in the year although it is already being shown

at Festivals in America. (Check out Elevator Productions for more information)

This article is reproduced from the CAW website, with kind permission.

This is the 7th Blue Plaque commissioned by CAW.

Help & Thanks

This is my last newsletter as I will be leaving Caldy Society Committee due to

other commitments. So we are looking for people to help in the Committee and

all that happens in the village.

I would particularly like to thank my fellow colleagues and a huge vote of thanks

to Jon Tarrant of Jon Tarrant Creative Services for the magic he does in turning

my notes into a lovely and readable newsletter.

Eve Sorrell

Tour Of Britain Visits Caldy

On Wednesday 11 September Stage

5 of the Tour of Britain cycle race

comes to Wirral it will start and finish

in Birkenhead Park.

It will pass along Caldy Road and

through West Kirby in the early

afternoon. As it will be going right

past Caldy Church, the bends there

will offer great views!

The Church Hall will be open for

refreshments and toilets, and we

hope you will come along to enjoy the

spectacle.

We will try to put any local road

closures on our email as soon as we

have them.

Fish and Chips Quiz Night

Friday October 11 at 7pm for a 7.30

pm start.

Last October we had a very full

Church Hall to enjoy a great fun

night for our fish and chips quiz. Our

wonderful quiz masters Chris Tann

and Jon Stitcher have “volunteered”

to do it all again this year.

Come along as a team or take pot luck

on the night as we will form teams.

Tickets £15 include quiz, fish and

chips, and welcome glass of wine. If

you have any dietary requirements

please let us know we can provide

Gluten free fish and chips or a

vegetarian alternative.

Tickets are £15 from Eve Sorrell 14

Pikes Hey Road Caldy CH48 1PB or

book on line at caldysociety.org

Caldy Community Gardening

Caldy residents come together, with a

spot of ‘Community Gardening’ every

now and then, trying to make a little

difference in the Village.

Our recent big achievement was in

persuading Vodaphone to donate

daffodil bulbs for us to plant at the top

of Melloncroft Drive, to replace those

they churned up when they erected

their mast. These were planted by the

Caldy Society volunteers last autumn

and what a magnificent display we were

treated to this spring.

However, Caldy roundabout was a

different matter. After the wonderful

display of daffodils in the spring, we were

then treated to a wonderful display of

weeds. The Council had forgotten to

weed it.

We are currently in discussions with the

Council in the hope of making Caldy

roundabout look a lot smarter in the

future. The Council have very recently

cut down the dead silver birch which we

requested and have sent their landscape

architect to advise us on which plants will best tolerate such poor, dry, soil. We

have had a working party to tidy up various bits of land round the Village which we

feel would benefit from some TLC, such as on the corner of Links Hey Road and

Croft Drive East, and Barton Hey Drive.

Can you help on our ‘Community Action Days’? The sessions are only for about

an hour, and we tackle one of these communal areas. Are you able to join us to

help keep Caldy looking so very lovely? Or do you have any suggestions as to what

other things we could do to improve the Village?

Please do contact Judy Wilcox /Rachel Summers/Marg Kalil, Caldy Society Tree

and Planting Group, or any of the Caldy Society Committee, if you are able to

help, or have any ideas. Contact details appear in this Newsletter.

Conservation & Planning

Trees

The Government had plans to force local Councils to consult residents before

trees are cut down; if 50% of residents object to such cutting down, a public

consultation must be held. Also, records of trees felled and replanted will have to

be kept. We do not know if this will now enter law.

Local Plan Update

The Government insists a minimum 803 new homes a year are built in Wirral over

the next decade and a half - over and above any existing empty homes. Council

deputy leader pledges ‘brownfield first’ development policy; 12,000 new homes

must be built in Wirral by 2035.

Hoylake Golf Course Development

Despite the Council having removed its financial backing for this scheme, it may

yet go ahead if new money is found from other sources.

For more detailed information, please see the ITPAS and WGSA notices online.

Update On Green Belt

On your behalf, I and my colleagues on the Committee of the Caldy Society

have been attending the Council’s consultations and neighbourhood meetings

regarding the Green Belt. This has been an arduous process as the Council did

not always give all the relevant information at any particular meeting making

questioning them difficult. It was also difficult to actually ask questions at these

meetings and if one succeeded, often no satisfactory answers were forthcoming.

I have also been liaising with all the other neighbourhood groups and organisations

campaigning against building on the Green Belt (the Green Alliance of 17+ groups).

Petitions against the Green belt development have gained 23,000 signatures.

We have attended as many meetings as possible and also met with Margaret

Greenwood to enlist her support. She has already been in communication with

the Council about this and received very poor replies to her questions. However,

she has not given us any updates as yet. In addition, the Green belt activists

have been interviewing local people about the Green belt and what they want

to happen and this can be found on

YouTube. The recent changes in

Government Ministers mean that

we cannot be sure how the Council

will now proceed, as new legislation

may be forthcoming. However,

at present, the Government has

said that targets given to Councils

were not binding and that housing

developments could be jointly

arranged between Councils and their

residents. Also, the ONS published

new statistics on housing need which

roughly halved the targets Councils

needed to aim for. This made the

Consultation process even more

complicated for all concerned. In

addition, Peel Holdings are in dispute

with the Council about how the

companies plans for regeneration

and rebuilding are being handled.

The Caldy Society, on your behalf,

instructed a company Leith Planning

to prepare a submission which was

presented to the Council opposing

the development of the land abutting

Stapleton Wood and adjoining

Caldy roundabout, designated as

SP013. The report was powerful

and opposed the Council’s plans on

several important points. Briefly, as

well as using Planning Law to show

that the Council have not shown

that they have explored thoroughly

alternative options in their Local

Plan before considering using Green

Belt, we argued the importance of

the considering using Green Belt,

we argued the importance of the

biodiversity of the site, it’s buffer

role, that fact that this land is classed

as good agricultural land, which is in

short supply in Wirral. Most damning

the report states that the Council

has not given sufficient details for

the Local Plan to be fit for purpose.

This was submitted in October 2018.

We have had no response from the

Council.

I cannot comment on the role that

Leverhulme estates is playing in all

of this but there are rumours that

farmers say farms will be taken for

use as building land, but I have no

evidence for this.

In summary, we have hope that,

because of the amateur way the

Council have developed the Local

plan, together with the very strong

local opposition to their plans to

build on the Green belt, there will

be a rethink by the Council of their

strategy. This whole exercise has only

been a consultation one and further

drafts of the Plan could be prepared

after December’s Council meeting.

We have, as yet, not heard from the

Council about this.

The deadline for a completed and

legal Plan to be submitted to the

Secretary of State is September

2019 (this may change|).

I therefore urge everyone to continue

to write to the Council, opposing their

plans. We must keep up the pressure

on them, particularly now that there

is a new Leader of the Council.

Planting time is here

An opportunity to fill gaps or replace

misfits. Whilst the soil is still warm, plant

trees, shrubs and perennials. Plant new

climbers and lilies, and biennials such as

wallflowers and foxgloves. Keep watered

if the weather is not damp enough to do

it for you.

Choose bulbs, but don’t plant tulips

until November, to protect them from damage by the fungal disease Tulip Fire.

Lawncare

Lawncare should involve keeping leaves from settling, scarification, aeration and

top dressing.

A lot of bird activity in the grass might mean leatherjackets are present. If so,

there is a treatment for the problem if it is seriously damaging the turf.

Cuttings and Seeds

Take cuttings of half hardy plants.

Collect seeds and store or give away in

clearly labelled paper bags.

Divide primroses and pot up or replant.

Gardening Jobs for

September and October

Roses

Prune climbing roses as flowering

finishes.

Rose leaves with black spot should

ideally be burnt; clearing them from the

soil surface and brown binning should be

as effective.

Fallen Leaves

Rake and remove leaves as soon as they fall.

Trim hedges

Hedges need trimming now. Hawthorn,

yew, beech and leylandii need tidying as

soon as any bird nesting activity is over.

It is an offence to damage or destroy

the nest of a wild bird whilst it is being

built or is in use.

Summer Bulbs

Lift and store summer flowering bulbs before they rot in wet soil.

Weeding

Try to keep on top of the weeding, a

weed removed now can save it seeding

and multiplying whilst your back is

turned.

Containers

Reduce feeding of planted containers.

Membership Form

Name: .................................................................................................................................................................

Address : ...........................................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................................................................

Tel: ....................................................................................

Mobile: ..........................................................................

Email: .................................................................................................................................................................

Please make cheques (£10 per household per year) payable to: “The Caldy Society”

I would like to ‘top up’ my cheque for membership renewal with a donation towards

the Caldy bulb planting of £………

Please complete and return this form with your cheque to:

The Hon Treasurer,

Dr D Lamont

10 Caldy Chase Drive

Caldy

WIRRAL CH48 2LD

On behalf of the Caldy Society committee I would like the thank all those members who have

paid their membership which allows us to continue to fund the Christmas Tree at the Church, the

lighting of the Church at night, the free Carols on the Green and refreshments, the newsletters,

bulbs and plants for the village and the consultants we have to bring in sometimes on things such

as the Greenbelt issues.

If you would like to join, registration online is simple, secure and strongly recommended via

our website: www.caldysociety.org

However, the form below is provided for those who still wish to subscribe by cheque. If you are

unsure if you are a member or not, please email: subscriptions@caldysociety.org